Gas turbine engines, such as those utilized in commercial and military aircraft, include a compressor section that compresses air, a combustor section in which the compressed air is mixed with a fuel and ignited, and a turbine section across which the resultant combustion products are expanded. The expansion of the combustion products drives the turbine section to rotate. The turbine section is connected to the compressor section via a shaft, and rotation of the turbine section further drives the compressor section to rotate. In some examples, a fan is also connected to the shaft and is driven to rotate via rotation of the turbine as well.
Each of the compressor and the turbine sections include multiple stages, with each stage being constructed of a ring of rotating rotor blades paired with a ring of static vanes. In some examples, the static vanes are constructed of clusters, where multiple circumferentially adjacent vanes in a given stage are a single integral component. Each integral component is referred to as a cluster.
During operation, the compressor and turbine sections are exposed to high operating temperatures. In some cases the high operating temperatures are mitigated via the use of active cooling systems that pass cooling air through the static vanes. The cluster construction can, in some examples, result in inbound regions between the vanes in a single cluster that are difficult to cool using conventional cooling systems.